A Lady's Promise by Raneé S. Clark: Book Review

 *Book received for consideration. All thoughts are my own.

For orphaned New York socialite Isabella De Vries, finding a husband has become imperative. After unsuccessfully navigating four Seasons, it’s time to enlist the help of an old family friend to find her a suitable match. She trusts Preston implicitly, but his solution is both unconventional and heartbreaking: he himself will marry Isabella in name alone so that she may be the sole beneficiary of his inheritance when he succumbs to the disease that will soon take his life. His plan solves everyone’s problems: Isabella will be cared for, and his inheritance will be protected from his irresponsible younger brother, Prince.

There is no love left between Prince Baxter and his older brother. When he hears that Preston is going to marry Isabella, Prince knows he will have to charm his way into friendship with Isabella if he wants to see any portion of the inheritance money. His plot, however, quickly crumples to pieces as he and Isabella establish a genuine connection―and he makes the mistake of falling in love with her.

In a house overrun by boys, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Raneé loves football and enjoys watching (and playing!) other sports as well, like basketball and baseball. When she’s not chauffeuring three busy boys to various activities (and sometimes while she is!), Raneé is either writing, reading (usually romance), obsessing over clothes in the form of her online boutique, or figuring out how to get a Crumbl cookie in rural Wyoming. When her real-life love interest can drag her away from imaginary worlds, she doesn’t mind spending some time with him in the great outdoors that he loves.

Find out more about Raneé at www.raneesclark.com

Confession: While in the past historical fiction is one that I would have considered a favorite genre, I must admit that in recent months, I've really struggled to find historical reads that I absolutely love. I'm definitely a mood reader, so I attribute a lot of it to that fact... but still, it's almost made me hesitant to pick up historical reads at the moment because I worry that I won't be able to enjoy them as I have in the past. But I absolutely adore Ranee S. Clark's books, so I wanted to give this one a chance... and oh my goodness, I am so glad that I did! Because this one? I adored.

Right from the beginning, I was drawn into these characters lives. Isabella was such a kind and thoughtful character with a mind for engineering and inventions-- particular those that can help others. Her friendship with Preston felt very genuine, and I really enjoyed the way the two looked out for and truly loved each other, if only in a very brotherly way. Prince on the other hand... well, at his first introduction, I must admit I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about him! That made it all the more enjoyable to watch his growth as the story went on. And I definitely really enjoyed his flirty ways with Isabella too... even if she WAS engaged to his brother. Like many, I am NOT a fan of a true love triangle... and while on the surface this might sound a little love triangle-like, I assure you it really does not come across that way at all in the story... it is made very clear that there is no romance at all between Preston and Isabella. So, while a complicated situation for sure... no love triangle here! 

As a key point in this story is that Preston is dying from cancer, it most definitely had it's difficult, emotional moments. Still, I felt like it was really well balanced with humor and the romance to keep it from feeling like too depressing a story. 

A Lady's Promise is a closed-door romance with nothing beyond kisses and no language.